Telecommunications processes, equipment and devices consume large amounts of power primarily due to ever increasing customer demands for digital communications versus analog communications. With the increase of consumption of large amounts of power, systems and methods for energy management in the telecommunications network infrastructure are desired by telecommunications organizations. For example, telecommunications organizations may desire to monitor and/or control power consumption by each telecommunication equipment arranged in telecommunication sites within a telecommunications network infrastructure.
Existing energy monitoring methods are very coarse. For instance, energy management systems and methods have traditionally been utilized at a site level (e.g., a central office site or a wireless site). For example, a telecommunication organization may simply monitor energy consumption of a single site by way of regularly comparing the site's utility bills from month to month. While this approach helps ensure that the telecommunication site's energy consumption is at least consistent, it does not provide visibility to power consumption by each piece of telecommunication equipment arranged in the telecommunication site.
As such, telecommunications companies are beginning to monitor power consumption at a power distribution system level. Specifically, telecommunications companies are beginning to monitor power consumption at a primary power distribution level (e.g., a battery distribution feeder bay (BDFB)). For example, a telecommunications company may monitor energy consumption of a primary power distribution system by monitoring a current shunt monitor of the primary power distribution system. While this approach provides visibility to power consumption at the primary power distribution level, it also does not provide visibility to power consumption by each piece of telecommunication equipment arranged in the telecommunication site.
Furthermore, a telecommunication company's ability to individually control each piece of telecommunication equipment disposed at remote wireless sites is also desired by telecommunication companies. For example, today's telecommunication companies may be capable of controlling a remote wireless site's radios. However, a telecommunication organization may desire to control not only a radio, but also control the additional telecommunication equipment disposed at the remote wireless site. Having the ability to control an entire wireless site system, including additional telecommunication equipment, would provide a telecommunication organization the ability to reduce a remote wireless site's operating costs. More specifically, today's remote wireless telecommunication sites do not provide a central control system capable of controlling each telecommunication equipment, power device(s), and/or controller(s) disposed at the remote wireless site. Instead, a network operations center (NOC) may simply control each individual radio through a communication channel.
In addition, a telecommunication organization may desire to monitor and manage energy usage of telecommunication equipment across an entire telecommunication network infrastructure. For example, a telecommunication organization may monitor and manage energy consumption by comparing one site's energy consumption with another site's energy consumption. Some telecommunication organizations may even monitor and manage energy consumption of primary power distribution systems across multiple telecommunication sites. While these approaches may provide visibility to energy consumption at the telecommunication site level or even to a primary power distribution level, it does not provide visibility to energy consumption by each piece of telecommunication equipment arranged across the entire telecommunication network infrastructure.
Accordingly there remains a need in the art for individual telecommunication equipment current monitors and remote wireless telecommunication site controllers. Similarly, there remains a need in the art for a central server that is in communication with each individual telecommunication equipment current monitor and each telecommunication site controller to provide management capabilities of energy consumption by each piece of telecommunication equipment arranged across the entire telecommunication network infrastructure.